In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, the Muslim community has been united in its condemnation of the terrorist attacks that killed three people and injured more than 200. But one issue has
sparked intense debate within a community struggling to come to terms
with the tragedy: should accused terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev be given an
Islamic burial?

For the religious
leaders in Boston, the issue of how to deal with the remains of an
alleged terrorist is an ethical dilemma with no clear answer, and little
precedence. As a result, it has led to two distinctly different
responses from the leadership: those who say Tsarnaev’s acts
are so heinous he deserves rejection from the community, and those who
believe that every man, regardless of his crime, deserves his last
rites.

“It’s not an
easy situation to be in,” said Imam Yusuf Badat, who leads the
congregation at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto, one of the largest
mosques in the city. “They probably fear that people will think they are
too sympathetic to the terrorist, or they have concerns about a
backlash. That’s likely why the mosques are declining.” The body of Tsarnaev,
26, who died after a fierce gun battle with police on April 19, is still
in the custody of the state chief medical officer, who has been working
to determine the cause of death.

Doctors said his injuries were so
extensive that they were unable to immediately determine why he died.

Tsarnaev’s father,
Anzor, told media Thursday that he intended to fly to the U.S. within a
day or two and said he hoped to take his dead son’s body back to Russia.
Tsnarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, was undecided about returning
to the U.S.

Earlier reports said
the family hoped to find an Islamic centre to conduct a funeral in the
Boston area. Initially there were no takers. And on Wednesday,
Tsarnaev’s relatives told NBC news that their request for burial had
been rejected by an unidentified mosque in Cambridge.

Imam Talal Eid of the
Islamic Institute of Boston believes the community has been absolved of
any obligation to conduct a funeral prayer. “He is a murderer, and
according to the Qur’an those who kill innocent people will dwell in
hellfire forever, without parole,” Eid said, in an interview with the
Star. “In the eyes of our faith, he is not a Muslim. “How can I do a burial
and ask God to forgive him? He didn’t do it in a fit of anger, it was a
deliberate act,” said Eid, who has not been approached by the family. “We as a community should react very aggressively toward such acts of terror and not give him any benefit of the doubt.”

On Wednesday, Suhaib
Webb, the imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Centre, posted a
brief statement on his Facebook page espousing a different view. “ISBCC did not deny
the deceased suspect his rite of burial. It was not asked to provide
those services. If it was, it would offer them to him as it is a
community obligation to bury the dead. While we denounce the acts he’s
accused of, his soul stands before God. Our hearts and prayers are with
the victims of this horrible tragedy and their families.” Webb did not
respond to the Star’s request for comment.

The two completely
different responses are also indicative of the range of opinions that
exist within the faith around how a funeral can be conducted, said
Badat. The Islamic funeral
is meant to be simple and quick. It consists of five main steps:
confirmation of death; washing of the body; shrouding of the body;
performance of a prayer; burial and continued prayers for the soul.

At issue in this case
is who would conduct the funeral prayers over the body. Badat says it is
not mandatory for the funeral prayer to take place at a mosque, nor
does an imam need to conduct the service. He said that throughout
Islamic history, when there were concerns that a funeral would harm the
community, it was recommended for a private burial to take place, with
only two or three people taking part in the funeral prayer. That can
even include family members.

“If no one performs
the funeral prayer, then the Muslim community of that specific town
would be considered to have sinned,” Badat said. “In the very least, an
Islamic burial should take place. That absolves the community of their
obligation.” But Shahina Siddiqui,
head of the Winnipeg-based Islamic Social Services Association, says
denying anyone a proper Islamic burial is a slippery slope.

“Where do you draw the
line? What about alcoholics, wife abusers or murderers?” she said. “I
think it’s not a precedent that we should set and we should not take the
job of God to judge people.” She likens the prayer to the Christian act
of offering those about to die, including criminals, their last rites.

This is not the first time Muslim leaders have had to deal with the onerous task of disposing of terrorist remains. After the Mumbai
attacks in 2008, which killed 164 people, including nine gunmen, the
Indian government considered burying the bodies of the attackers in a
Muslim graveyard in the city. However, religious leaders vehemently
opposed the use of their cemetery. The government was forced to hold on
to the bodies. When they began to rot, officials launched a secret
operation to bury the bodies in the outskirts of the city, away from the
media glare. The government informed the public of the burial two days
later.

The U.S. government
also conducted a covert operation when it disposed of the body of Osama
bin Laden in the sea within 24 hours of him being killed. In media
reports following his capture and death in 2011, U.S officials said they
were trying to be sensitive to the Islamic practice of a quick burial,
and believed that finding a country to accept his body would have be too
difficult. There was also concern that his gravesite would become a
site of veneration and converted into a shrine. Hence, the exact
location of the burial was never revealed.

And little has been
known about what happened to the remains of the Sept. 11 terrorists.
According to a 2009 Newsweek story, the remains of 13 of the 19
hijackers were identified through DNA testing of charred remains of
tissue and bones from the Pentagon and the Twin Tower sites. The remains
are being held at undisclosed locations in New York and Virginia.

They are “stored as
evidence in a refrigerated locker in sealed containers and test tubes,”
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko told Newsweek. At the time, officials said
no family or foreign government had asked for the remains, and it was
unclear if such a request would be granted.

The FBI did not respond to a request for confirmation on whether, four years later, it was still in possession of the remains. In the case of Boston,
it remains to be seen where Tsarnaev will finally be buried. But Eid’s
advice to his fellow community leaders and imams is to stay away. “If others (in the community) want to do it, that’s fine. But I believe we (imams) should not come near this.”

my response.....

Boston Bomber's Mom

Now that it is clear that some Boston and Toronto imams will condemn terror and

stand for freedom, will criminals know they could be marginalized and exposed? In

the case of Toronto, is this the result of Prime Minister Harper's statement to

the criminals...'please don't bring your hatred to Canada' or a strong backlash

within the community?

The CBC reports that “a prominent community leader” among Toronto Muslims tipped

off the RCMP to possible terror suspects and the Mounties gave GTA’s imams a

“special briefing” on Monday before announcing the arrest of two men in an alleged

plot to derail a VIA passenger train, one community leader told the CBC Tuesday

morning. “It was a sense of thank you as well as a reconfirmation of our

collaborated efforts for the safety of the country,” said Yusuf Badat, director of

religious affairs for the Islamic Foundation of Toronto

Tarek Fatah, an Indian born in Pakistan; a Punjabi born in

Islam, of Hindu ancestry & Sikh heritage. A 'Sarmachar'

grounded in a Marxist youth, above all a Canadian.

Tarek Fatah of the Toronto Sun asks his community to "denounce the doctrine
of jihad as pronounced by the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami, and
distance themselves from the ideology of Quth, al-Banna and Maudoodi."
Farzana Hassan of the Toronto Sun tells us as for “root causes,” the former
president of the Toronto based North American Muslim Foundation, Sheharyar
Shaikh and Imam of Masjid Qurtabah, writes: “If the murder of three people
during the Boston Marathon held on Patriot’s Day became a 'cowardly' act,
U.S. drone bombing on Shigal, an Afghan village, a week prior to the
Marathon, causing 11 children and a woman to be blown to fleshy bits not
cowardly as well? — thus raising the count of U.S drone killings of
Afghani/Pakistani children to over 200.”

Farzana Hassan Author, Freelance writer,

Women's rights activist, Musician

"It is such fallacious moral equivalencies that have prevented Muslims and
their non-Muslim supporters from acknowledging the truth, from owning up to
the fact that radical Islamic extremists do in fact commit terror in the
name of Islam. It prevents them from acknowledging that drone attacks cannot
be seen in the same light. While drone attacks target militants, the very
same individuals who stone women, who kill mercilessly over perceived
insults to Islam, who kill other Muslims, who destroy the peace and security
of otherwise peaceful neighbourhoods, who attack teenage girls for wanting
to get an education — cannot be equated with the terrorists targeting
killings of innocent civilians. Where indeed is the moral equivalency?"
While many in the GTA appreciate the brave stance that these imams have taken

when they decided to co-operate with the RCMP, could this be an ideal time for

the criminals to end their violent ways and join with their peace-loving brethren